During an especially challenging storm season, a combination of factors made for a very demanding peak at our client’s North Carolina manufacturing plant. The hurricanes had been particularly severe, which increased demand for flashlights and dry-cell batteries in areas that experienced power outages, raising the client’s overall consumer demand by 35 to 50 percent.
While consumer demand rose, competition for available talent was heating up. Around this time, the region where the plant was located experienced a period of particularly low unemployment and an increase in the average wage rate.